1300-50;Middle Englishbrutaske, bretage, bretice < Anglo-Frenchbretaske, bretage,Anglo-French,Old Frenchbretesche wooden parapet on a fortress < Medieval Latin (9th century) brittisca, apparently a Latinized form of Old EnglishBryttiscBritish (or a new formation in ML), on the presumption that such parapets were introduced from Britain